RACE REPORT

A well-earned point was Matty’s reward in the first Formula Renault 2.0 Eurocup race of his career today (Saturday, April 26th), finishing tenth after an eventful 14 lap contest at Motorland Aragon.

In a race ran with light rain falling constantly, Matty showed great composure and race craft throughout, avoiding on track incidents and defending his position from attacks from behind on his way to the chequered flag.

Lining up 10th on the grid, following an excellent qualifying session where he set the sixth fastest time in his group, the first F1 style start of his career caught Matty unawares and cost him three places on the run into the first turn.

Not yet fully into his race rhythm, Matty lost a further place on lap two but with the pack still tightly packed, it would only be a matter of corners before he moved back up the order.

Running into the tight hairpin toward the end of the lap, Matty evaded a collision between Callan O’Keeffe and Matevos Isaakyen, before taking advantage of the situation to poach eleventh place from the resulting melee.

Mixing amongst drivers with a greater amount of experience in a FR2.0 car, Matty came under almost immediate pressure before being passed by Koiranen GP’s Ignazio D’Agosto and ARTA Engineering’s Simon Gachet over the next two laps.

Now running in 12th, Matty’s pace was starting to build and was keeping in touch with the battle raging between 6th and 11th place.

When Manor MP’s motorsport Steijn Schothorst made a mistake on lap seven, Matty was on hand to again take advantage of the incident, jumping back into tenth. Where earlier in the race this gain was relatively short lived, this time it stuck as Matty found an answer to all the questions posed by the recovering Dutchman.

Comfortable with the tempo of the race, Matty was first able to repel the Schothorst’s initial attacks before backing him into the chasing pack. With his rivals attentions focused on his own rear wing, Matty was then able to continue improving on his race pace and build a comfortable gap.

Crossing the line with a 2.8sec advantage over his pursuer and with a fastest lap within 0.8secs of the fastest, Matty had successfully made a mark in his maiden outing.

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MATTY SAID: “I ‘m very pleased to come away with a point from my first Eurocup race particularly since only the top ten score with this championships points system.

I got caught out a bit at the start with the light sequence. I’ve never done a start with the F1 style five lights, pause and out so bringing on the revs as I normally do caused the clutch to slip, so having to stop myself jumping the start meant I was at a bit of a disadvantage as the lights went out, but that’s something we can work on.

Overall I’m happy with the pace and happy with how I raced and think we can look forward to a good second day tomorrow.”